Death penalty abolished in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea has repealed the death penalty and all prisoners on death row have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. 

One day earlier, The Post Courier reported on Minister for Justice Bryan Kramer’s announcement of Cabinet’s decision to repeal the death penalty.

Prime Minister James Marape endorsed the decision of Cabinet stating that, “[t]he death penalty has, for all intents and purposes, been completely ineffective as a deterrent to violent and abhorrent behaviour. This view is supported by countless studies carried out by criminologists and PhDs from around the world.”

The death penalty was abolished in 1974 prior to independence in 1975. It was then reintroduced in 1991. The last execution in Papua New Guinea was carried out in 1954.